Snap adds social event planning feature with Snapchat Plans

Snap is launching a new mobile app feature called Snapchat Plans. While it may sound like a new subscription service, Plans is actually a set of features that encourages hanging out in person.

Snap wants Snapchat users to meet up and hang out

“IRL meet-ups often start from a simple spark of conversation: A message turns into an idea, an idea turns into a plan, and time spent together becomes a memory,” Snap says.

“That’s why today we are introducing Snapchat Plans, a new suite of features that gives Snapchatters a new way to create, share, and manage their real-world plans with friends, all in one place.”

Snap highlights three current features, and one more coming soon, around Snapchat Plans:

• Send and receive invitations from mutual friends 
• Track key details like time, date, and attendees 
• Keep plans in one easy-to-find place
• And soon, Snapchatters will be able to create events directly within a chat

The company explains how creating Snapchat Plans works in the app:

Snapchatters can add a title, choose a date and time, invite up to 200 friends, and personalize their event with dynamic Bitmoji-powered cover art that automatically updates as the plan comes together. Invitations are then delivered directly within a one-on-one chat with each invited friend, where guests can quickly RSVP with Going, Maybe, or Can’t Go without interrupting the conversation.

Here’s how it looks:

Importantly, Snap says that Snapchat Plans are both private and invite-only, so everything stays between friends. You can learn much more from Snap’s announcement post here.

Earlier this summer, Snap added a new Now Playing map feature to Snapchat.

Not a Snapchat user? Apple has its digital event planning service called Invites.